As heavy rains swept through North Texas on Monday, life came to a standstill in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Even the Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) had to cease operations.
NBC 5 reported that the TAFB shut down its central distribution center on Cullen Street in Fort Worth and the TAFB West center in Weatherford to ensure friends, neighbors, and employees remained safe during the torrential downpour.
The rain came down hard and fast starting on Sunday evening, intensifying on Monday morning, causing the banks of the Trinity River to overflow. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Fort Worth firefighters responded to 133 flooding calls between Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and Monday at 11:25 a.m.
Streets throughout Fort Worth were flooded, and some, like Hulen Street, between I-30 and Donnelly Ave and Forest Park Boulevard., were unpassable.
On Tuesday, August 23, distribution operations for both TAFB facilities resumed.
“It only forced us to shut down production and see our food distribution events, through our agency partners, get canceled,” Michael Polydoroff told The Dallas Express. “Some agency partners are rescheduling or doing workarounds to accommodate the last-minute closures.”
TAFB services 13 nearby counties and provides roughly 60 million meals yearly, more than 1 million a week. Most meals are distributed through pantries, mobile centers, senior sites, and community shelters.
The nonprofit also hosts initiatives that help the community, including “Cooking Matters,” a program that teaches local residents practical cooking and shopping skills.
Another initiative of TAFB is its community garden program, which produces 3,000 pounds of fresh produce and 1,800 seed packets that are distributed by the organization.
Fort Worth residents established the Tarrant Area Food Bank in October 1982.
During the fiscal year 2020, TAFB’s mission was supported by the generous contributions of 50,700 hours of donated time from volunteers.
To learn more about the Tarrant Area Food Bank, visit TAFB.org.
